


5 times Lydia talked to her mom + 1 time she got an answer

by mexmaistrash



Series: Got to keep dancing when the lights go out [2]
Category: Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: 5 times + 1, Comfort, Emily Deetz loving hours, Gen, Hurt, fluff maybe, some closure for my lil goth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:55:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21817000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mexmaistrash/pseuds/mexmaistrash
Summary: Lydia Deetz knows talking to her dead mom is futile, but she never stopped. And, once, she got to hear from her again.
Series: Got to keep dancing when the lights go out [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536802
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	5 times Lydia talked to her mom + 1 time she got an answer

**Author's Note:**

> you ever just want to barf up some words and never know where they will go? that's this

1.

The first time she actually started to talk to her mom out loud she thought she was going crazy. Her mind told her there was going to be someone answering, as if she was just in the same room as her. Her breath was always caught in her chest whenever she did it, as if exhaling would vanish her presence. 

She was in her room, a month had passed since the funeral. The place was a mess, full of clothes she had decided it was time to throw out, things that made her remember too much. There were photos sprawled everywhere, her backpack could have exploded and she would not have cared. The last thing she wanted to do was think about the next day and the day after. Her plans nowadays only involved sleeping, eating something frozen, and wandering down the street, taking a photo or two if she could. 

But today was the day, she was going to start trying. Really trying. Just for you, mama. 

“Hey...hey mom, I took a picture of that cat you always fed, the one with the scratch on its nose? It finally let me pet it” she looked through the pictures she had recently developed herself, searching for the thin white cat. “I still bring it food, that cat sure was grumpy as hell when it saw me come down the street with the bowl of food, serves me right for ignoring it”. 

Lydia started to pick up the photos as she talked, she even sat on her vanity and started to write down the dates on the ones she remembered, she promptly organized them by date. One less chore to worry about. 

“I asked dad if I could keep it, but you know him...he has never had a thing for animals. Maybe I can finally convince him?” she dwelled too much on the pause and felt her eyes start to water. She knew she had to keep going. 

“I’m doing great at school, too. Who knew exam week would go that smoothly” she finished with her photos and made her way to fold her clothes, she decided the old orphanage would be a good place to donate them. All the clothes were now either too bright or too small for her, her wardrobe needed an upgrade. She was already using her mom’s old black army boots, she could dig using some more black. 

In no time she had the room back to impeccable, a more decent space. She didn’t stop talking about her day, her grades, her friends. The room even felt lighter than before. 

“That’s...that’s all I have for you today, though. But I’ll come back to you whenever I get a picture of a ghost, or a witch, or maybe just another pic of that cat!” Lydia wanted to keep on rambling, maybe that way she could get an answer. But she knew she had to stop, or else she would actually become mad. 

With a last goodbye, Lydia slumped back on her bed. She stared at the roof what was left of the day, hoping her mom would just come into the room and surprise her with the cat from down the street.

2\. 

“What do you mean I have to pack?” 

“Just as you heard! I have a wonderful surprise for you and Delia!” 

Lydia did not look the way she did 5 months ago, and neither her dad. 5 months ago she had longer hair, she used way too much yellow and red, and her attitude was the merriest. Today, she had way shorter hair, she was always dressing in something black, and she had become snarkier, pessimistic, and even antisocial. She didn’t find it funny at all that her dad was keeping secrets from her, or that Delia was going to be part of a plan. 

She wasn’t more on board with the idea when she noticed that many things had already been packed, including her mom’s old set of vinyls and paintings. Lydia stepped closer to them to be sure that they had been taken care of properly. 

“This old house has been restraining us from the future, we need new visions, new terrain to look out to, you know what I’m talking about, Lydia?” Charles said as he went around marking furniture and items with some tape and paper. 

Lydia frowned and started to walk away. “Whatever you say, dad. Guess I’ll start packing up, see if I can get crushed by a box or two if I pile them up”. 

“Wonderful! Yes, you go do that!” Charles said, paying more attention to a message on his phone and replying to it. “I’ll text Delia so she knows she’s coming too!” 

Lydia shut the door to her room and huffed. Some unassembled boxes had already been neatly placed next to her bed, but she just stared at them wishing she could just melt them down with her sight alone. Leaving the four walls she had known since she was little felt like turning into a different person, even if it was for a ‘surprise’ her dad was planning. 

She turned to her vanity, where a picture of her mom rested with some candles and plastic flowers. A small altar someone had told her she could set up in her honor, she had already forgotten who gave her the idea. 

“What am I supposed to do? Follow dad around like a lost dog? As if he weren’t a lost dog himself.” She sat down on the vanity seat and rested her head on her hands. “He won’t even tell me where we are going. I hope it’s just some weird therapy SHE told him about. Dad wouldn’t have the interest in searching for that sorta stuff. But he did find Delia in a ‘life-coaching event’, though…”

Lydia kept gazing at the framed picture. It had been taken on a trip to the Statue of Liberty, her mom wore a ridiculously big black hat and a long sleeved dress. Lydia remembered how she had said ‘Charles, if we are going where the tourists flock to, I might as well try to blend in with them. I don’t want no tourists try to think I live here!’ This made her smile, briefly. 

“You would know what to say to him so he would just stop this madness. I mean, what if this is all a ruse to send me to a boarding school and he escapes to Europe and gets a new identity? Or, better yet, he is being tricked by a killer in disguise and we are falling right into their trap!” Lydia jumped from her seat and put her arms up in a defensive pose. “The killer might even know I have already found out about their plan, and they’re coming right about this instant!” 

She made a spinning motion and fell on her bed, giggling. But it died down quickly, as it did nowadays. 

“What if he just wants to get away from you?”

3.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it here. She didn’t feel that coziness that always surrounded her. It felt like a chasm in her stomach. 

The new house was big, pretty big for a summer home. Well, “home” did not even fit the criteria. And he expected them to live there? Her dad gone mad, for real.

Lydia saw the workers take down boxes, furniture, misplaced items and more. She did not even feel like bothering Delia, the place just did not feel right. As if someone else was taking up the space her mama would usually take. 

But she still tried. 

“Are you seeing this place? Did old people die in here or what?” She felt somewhat sorry for them, not the best place to host a funeral. “At least they were constant and cozy, Life Coach’s new style is something that I can get worried about”. She ran her hand through the wall as she walked, feeling how the wallpaper was already peeling off. 

“View’s nice, though. Up in the hill. I could maybe go down it when it snows! Up and down, just like that time we-”

“Lydia! Come here! Help me spray the walls I want to change!” Delia’s voice grew louder as she spotted Lydia. She had a spray paint bottle in her hand and some gloves. “It’s makeover tiiime!” 

Lydia could only scowl at her. She was about to comment that she was being busy when a bottle was shoved into her hands. Delia smiled and strutted about.

“That room right there is yours, just write on the wall what type of wallpaper or paint you want. I will personally be reconstructing this whole house, make it the pinnacle of art deco!” Delia beamed, wild ideas for furniture and pantones running in her mind. Lydia wasn’t as keen as she did, though.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I wanna explore the house, see what dark secrets it is hiding under its floorboards and behind doors” Lydia started to walk backwards, spray bottle still in hand, and made a peace-out sign in Delia’s direction. If she had to deal with that for one more day she would surely throw herself from the stairs. 

When she was far away from earshot she sighed and rested on a door frame.

“Can you believe her? So rude. Cutting into conversations as if she was the new boss in town. ‘Hey look at me I’m Delia. You’re sad? Oh don’t be sad, there you’re okay now!’ Ugh!” Lydia opened the can and sprayed on the first space she found. It was a silly caricature of Delia with big eyes, crooked hair, and an X over where her mouth should be. 

“I know I’m probably being too rude to her, mom...and you wouldn’t approve of that...but she’s just so...so...AGH!” Lydia teared at the wallpaper, which came off easily, and huffed. At least dad wouldn’t ground her now that the evidence could be disposed of. 

“I guess it’s enough tantrums for day one. C’mon mama, let’s check the rest of the house.”

4\. 

“Mom! Mama,where are you! Answer me!”

Lydia felt as if she was on a treadmill, she didn’t feel as if her feet were moving her at all. The landscape was always the same one, barren outskirts with that dead starry sky above her. She was getting sick from the stripes that made loops above her, if she was getting somewhere then she would be damned if she could find her mom. 

Avoiding the dead had been the most difficult part, having a pulse and breathing heavily were not things they were going to be worried about, but she was. She had to pause a bit from section to section so nobody would know she was alive. There weren’t houses in the Netherworld, per se, but just structures that seemed to house many residents. She would stumble near one and then move along if the coast was clear. She could listen to some of the people in the buildings chatter and scream. And she paid close attention to know if her mother was one of them.

She did end up yelling for her a couple more times before reaching a clearing, some “graves” seemed to have been set up, a graveyard in the afterlife. She laid at the feet of a large, crooked stone, the name had apparently been scratched with a rock. Her throat ached, her feet hurt, and her chest felt too heavy inside her small frame. The dead were still looking for her, she could hear the heavy feet that went past her hiding spot and further into the black abyss. 

She pressed her back against the freezing stone and held her knees close to her chin, finally realizing how tired she was. The Netherworld truly was a frozen place, her legs were full of goosebumps and she felt a shiver run up her spine. She wondered if she could stay there and die on her own, a decent way to go out if she said so herself. 

Lydia scoffed and finally looked up, the black and white unending sky pulsating above her. She wondered if people went crazy just by looking at it. Though she did not really want to find it out herself. 

"Well...I'm here! They told me that book was a no-brakes one-way ticket back to you...turns out they keep lying to me. Figures…" Lydia felt her voice croaking out between her dried lips, a voice that sounded far away and wasn't hers. It seemed everything after death was off and drifted around you. Her eyes stung from the cold and she just rubbed at them, coming up with some tears as well.

“This is not the reunion I wanted, you know? I thought maybe the afterlife would be warmer and less full of void. Though...it’s pretty nice to have a sorta secretary at the gate, isn’t it?” Her words didn’t even need to drift in the wind, they fell flat when she spoke. At least she would not get caught by anyone if she just kept trying to talk to her mom. In her mind it made sense, talk to her and her presence would know she was there, know she was in trouble and would go running straight to her. She hanged on unto that thought for the next couple of minutes, until she realized she was just being stupid. 

“If you’re out there...please...I just want to-”

“Lydia! Yes! I found you!”

“Dad?”

5\. 

“And then, Jamie looked at the director straight in the face as she paid for three other kids’ lunches! She really did not give a damn about the rules!” Lydia said, ending her tale of the day.

“Is that something good? Is this Jamie a good influence for you, Lydia?” Charles asked as he put down his phone and started with his plate. 

“Totally. The school doesn’t let other students pay for various meals, so she looked badass buying those kids meals for the day.” She beamed as she moved away her plate to start on dessert first, but her plate moved farther and farther away from her, floating off the table. She knit her eyebrows together and saw Barbara, sticking out half her body from a wall, as she levitated her plate away from her. “Hey! That’s mine!”

“Soup and filet mignon first, red velvet later. Besides, there’s a whole cake waiting, don’t make me disappear it” she smiled as Lydia sighed and reached for her spoon and bowl. Barbara walked her body through the rest of the wall and came up to Lydia to ruffle her hair slightly. 

The household was definitely in better conditions. The art deco style had been toned down and was more of a rustic style that combined the old victorian house it once was and the trends of the decade. Adam had been the most satisfied with the change in decor. And everyone else had been satisfied with the change in Lydia.

She talked more to everyone else, and everyone finally knew when they needed to talk to her. Charles, out of all of them, had made the most progress, sitting down to chat with her about the most mundane things, getting to know his daughter again. Lydia even joked about them being the Deetzes two point oh. 

“It’s a friday, Lydia, any plans with friends? Any friends I get to meet this week?” Charles asked, raising an eyebrow in her direction. 

“Still no friends to meet, dad. But I am planning on going out to take some pictures, if that’s okay with you” Lydia said. “I want to catch some more birds before they start migrating.” 

“Ah! Birdwatching! Now that is something I can get into, I’ll drive us to a place I read about online where-”

“I, uh, kinda wanted to go on my own, dad.” Lydia said, nibbling at her lower lip. 

Charles sank a bit on his chair, Barbara noticed their interaction and disappeared into the kitchen. She knew Lydia needed to talk about her space and have some boundaries with her dad. Besides, she wouldn’t know where the conversation would shift to. 

“That’s alright then. Another time will be ok.” Charles then disappeared back into answering emails and leaving his food unattended. Lydia hurried up with her own food and left her dishes in the kitchen, thanking Barbara for the meal. She didn't mean to push away her dad like that, but she really needed to talk to someone she had not talked to in a while. 

The birdwatching excuse was half life and half truth. She did want to find bird to photograph, but she also knew most of her time would be spent by rambling to herself as she would make her way downtown and back to the house. With her camera around her neck and a quick goodbye to her dad she set off to clear her head. 

The way downtown was relaxing to her, going down the small hill where the house was and following the paved road. She still wondered how her dad had actually found the house, he had probably thought about it the way business men did, whole lot of land around it would make do for more houses. Lydia was happy the plan hadn’t moved forward, she liked the house just the way it was. 

When she knew she was far away enough from home and that the trail to get to town was still a long way, she searched for the best spot to take a picture of the house from afar. The trees were starting to lose their green color and the hill started to look a bit brown. A perfect picture that just yelled haunted mansion vibes. Her camera clicked twice and she moved on.

“I like the house, I like it more than before. Definitely cozier. I miss having an actual garage, though. But the front porch is actually more like something you would have liked, mama.” Lydia slowly moved forward when she saw a squirrel pass by, ready to run away with an acorn. She prepared the shot, slowly sneaking in closer. The squirrel scrambled away just as a car rolled by and Lydia sighed. “Sometimes you get some, sometimes you don’t.”

She stayed in that patch of road that worked as middleground between her home and the rest of the town. She even thought about staying to catch the sunset, after all she had no plans for the rest of the day. Maybe she would play a round of Scrabble with Adam and Barbara, or bother her dad and Delia so the three of them could catch a movie in the cinema, or work on her science fair project. Lydia surprised herself when she didn’t find any sort of self-deprecating thought in that train, she only thought about things to do for fun. 

“Maybe that experience with BJ was for good, eh mama? Although, he did almost kill at least 5 people. But he did end up helping us...by killing someone? Let’s not dive into details that much. I hope he is doing okay, you might meet him, sometime, maybe. Who knows...that big old place sure is somewhere you can meet a character like him.” 

Lydia kept taking photographs until she saw the sun starting to go down, the way back home was shorter. She went to the back of the house to take one last photograph, the sun just as it dipped on the horizon. She waited for the perfect moment, clutching her camera hard between her hands and clicked just on the right moment. She would develop all those pictures in that dark room Adam had been working on in the attic. But for now, she was content with what she had. 

“See you around, mama. You’ll hear more about all of us soon.”

Emily.

“Delia! Give me back my phone, I am waiting for an important client! Lydia, please, help me out here!”

“Nothing of that, Charles! I was telling you about my day and you would not take your eyes off this phone!”

Delia and Charles were running in circles around the dining room and the living room, with Charles chasing after Delia, who had his phone kidnapped. Lydia watched from her seat in the couch as the events happened, enjoying the chaos between her dad and Delia. She had to admit that Delia shared her mother’s view about phones, they were indeed pesky little gadgets. 

“You should run faster, dad. Unbelievable how you can’t catch up with a woman who is running in heels.” Lydia teased.

“It’s all from experience, Lydia. And she is right, you are an old man, Charles.” Delia detoured into the kitchen and tossed the phone into a cabinet, quickly locking it with her spare key.

Charles panted after the workout he had gone through, he sat down at the table, letting his whole weight fall unto the chair. “Dammit woman, you do have your ways to have me waiting on what you’ll do next.” He smiled slightly as he saw her come out of the kitchen, victorious. “But I swear, I was paying attention all that time!”

Delia put her hand on her hip and pursed her lips. “What’s the name of the woman who did my nails today?” she asked, making her best effort to pull off a menacing tone.

“Easy, Mildred does your nails whenever you go to the salon.” Charles said triumphantly but was caught off guard when he heard Lydia chuckle from her spot.

“Correct, but that was a trick question.I didn’t go get my nails done today, I was telling you how I went to a yoga class with Shelly.”

“That’s not fair play!”

“It is! You weren’t listening! And now your phone is ringing in the locked cupboard!”

Charles made a run for it and tackled Delia to the ground, looking for the key to get his phone back. They ended up half-struggling, half-playing on the floor and Lydia still wasn’t ready to see them like that. She closed the book she had been reading and slowly made her escape up the stairs and into her new favourite place: her new dark room. 

She passed by the second floor pretty quickly, not disturbing the Maitlands. Her dad had thrown out a lot of old things of theirs and had actually expanded the house to give them their own room. They knew the couple didn't really need sleep or food, but they sure were entitled to having their own space. And after using the attic as a space for Lydia they didn’t had any other option to stay at. Lydia could not stop thanking Adam for giving her the last space where they had been themselves. She was sure to use it as often as she could. 

This time, she was ready to work with her last camera roll, which included Halloween pictures, Delia’s birthday party, and some more miscellaneous shots. The whole room had been turned upside down, in a good way. Everything that was still useful was sent to the basement, and the walls and windows had been reworked with Lydia’s choice of paint and wallpaper. It felt like a completely different building. 

Lydia was all business as she started to fill a basin with water and pulled the curtains closed, getting ready to spend a couple of hours upstairs. She hanged up a sign on the door that read DO NOT OPEN, I’M WORKING to stop any accidents from happening and even locked the door. She learned that sometimes adults just don’t remember to read, knock, or respect the privacy of teenagers. With her gear on, she was ready to have some relaxing time for herself. 

The camera rolls she worked on made her giggle, much of the photos had been taken spontaneously, she even had let Delia, Barbara and Adam take some pictures. She marveled at a perfect capture of her dad smiling, that surely had been Delia taking the photo. He looked so relaxed and happy, Lydia thought about taunting him for looking that good in what seemed forever. But her train of thought was cut short as she saw the room get brighter around her. She dived in front of the roll, panicking at the very thought of losing those precious moments, and was caught even more off-guard when she realized the light that was coming into the room was not from the door that lead downstairs. 

Lydia turned around cautiously and saw, to her shock, the very door that Adam had drawn in the attic slowly opening, green light coming in with mist following. The air felt cold and her first thought was that this was it, this was Juno getting her revenge on her, nothing else but an infinite abyss of nothing was going to be her--

“LYDS! YOU DIDN’T BARRICADE THIS DOOR!”

The door flung wide open, letting the breeze come in fully, a horrible odour starting to take up space in the small attic. Lydia had to give him some credit, entrances were his specialty.

“Lawrence Beetlejuice, what are you doing back here?” she said, almost not even remotely surprised, though her expression said the opposite. 

“Skip the formalities, kiddo! Doors have two sides, or what, you thought this going-to-the- Netherworld thing was one-sided?” he smiled widely, his teeth looking rotted and pointy. He stepped into the room, admiring the new look. “Gotta be honest, I like what Sexy did with this attic, finally has some more personality, could use a bit more spiders. But who am I to judge this beautiful neo-classical cottage of a hom--”

“What are you really here for?” 

Beetlejuice snapped his head to look at her up and down, his eyes almost bouncing in his sockets. His face was serious this time, this didn’t give Lydia any confidence at all.

“You did bad, Scarecrow. You did really bad last time I was here”.

Lydia gulped and started to step back slowly, trying to remember how to scream out for help. Beetlejuice followed suit to her pacing, getting slowly closer to her.

“No one gets into the Netherworld and THEN comes out, alive nonetheless. You made some real ass-whooping paperwork to handle.” His hair turned greener and Lydia wasn’t keen on finding out what that meant, she finally felt her back hit the door and took a deep breath, ready to scream, as Beetlejuice finally caught up to her. He spoke lowly in her face.  
“Not to mention...that you totally almost SOILED YOUR PANTS! HAHAH! Lydia Deetz! Scared out of her mind!” He stepped back and fell on the floor, laughing on his side. A third arm came out of his side to slap on the floor as his other two arms held his rib sides. 

Lydia huffed out angrily, stomping up to him and hitting him repeatedly on his side with her fists. She knew it wouldn’t hurt him but at least it made her busy as he settled down. Beetlejuice finally sat up and sighed, happily. His hair was as green as the grime on his suit.

“Well, joke’s over, had fun?” Lydia asked, crossing her arms.

“Oh, the most I’ve had since having to deal with dead boring people. Won’t believe how loaded work is right now, having to change some rules and shit.” He stood up and fixed his suit, mocking a businessman in the process. “It’s all ‘where’s my healthcare, who is your manager, can i get a VIP in hell’. Yuck! Had to move away from that or else I would lose it. Anyhow, how’s the family, huh?” He walked around,spotting the photos Lydia had already hanged.

She followed him, keeping an eye on the door, and leaving some space between them. “Couldn’t be better. You should advertise yourself as a family counselor, worked pretty well for all of us.”

“Nah, not a family man myself, but look at this! Whole squad looks like it’s getting along just fine. Chuck and Deborah in that pic? Gives me diabetes just from looking at it.” He pointed at a photograph that was half-way done, where Charles and Delia were looking at each other, both of them had frosting from cake on their noses. 

Lydia chuckled, “You mean Delia? She’s actually really cool, I, uh, actually didn’t think she really meant-”

“Yeah, yeah, Delia, Dennis, whatever. Is that a box full of sharp objects I see? Now that’s some fun stuff!” Beetlejuice skittered towards a box that had caught his attention, though he has been fooled by the light reflecting on it, the box had just been full of some or other trash Lydia still had to take downstairs. 

She huffed, now getting desperate, and moved as close as she could to the demon. “What are you here for? Life’s been pretty great for you to just strut in here like a zebra corpse and just-”

“Oh yeah! It’s your mom’s turn to visit, she had number one million and some shit, Pilar actually sent me. She’s been running the place smoothly, although she still won’t go out on a date with me, which seems odd to me, everyone likes me now that good old mom is-”

“Wait, wait, wait! It’s mom’s turn to what?” Lydia cut him short before he could go on a full ramble of his life. Her eyes were wide and focused on him.

“Are you sure life has been going great? ‘Cus I think you are losing hearing capability, you are still fifteen, right?” He got closer to her and took her head in his hands, moving her around to look into her ear. “Just as I suspected, too much brain up in there”.

Lydia shook him off and grabbed him by his collar, taking him by surprise. “Beej, what do you mean my mom is visiting?”

“Oh shoot, see what you made me do? I could have used ALL THIS TIME to explain literally just that, but you made me get all emotional and chat up with you.” In a puff of smoke, Lydia was just grabbing at air and she saw his silhouette back at the door that lead to the Netherworld. He smirked and winked at her, something she truly despised. “Also, don’t step across the door, it can get you in lots more trouble, kiddo.”

The door shut firmly after that, and Lydia stumbled towards it, knocking three times on it. She knew it was futile, she was alive after all. Only dead people could actually get an answer. She stared at it momentarily before she saw that it was opening again, slower this time. She stumbled back, stunned. The light on the other side was not as green, it felt lighter, as if it was a door to a complete different place. Lydia clutched at her chest, holding back her breath.

And then there it was.

The frame was the same, but the place it lead to was nothing Lydia recognized. It looked like a visiting room that was separate from the Netherworld, with a sofa and coffee table, as far as she could see. It looked cozier, nothing like the frozen plane Lydia had visited. And it was empty. She stepped closer, keeping in mind what Beetlejuice had said. Every inch of her trembled as she considered that fact that someone might have been waiting for her on the other side of the door.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” Lydia called out. She saw there was a second door in the room she could see, and if she paid enough attention, she could hear muffled voices on the other side. 

“This is it, missus! Break a leg!” A familiar raspy voice said, and the door opened, revealing Beetlejuice and a second figure. “Hey Lyds! Stay on your side!” And he closed the door as the visitor entered. 

“Oh my stars, my baby...is that you?”

Lydia Deetz had never known what it felt like to freeze from utter shock up until the day they had given her the news of her mother passing. She prayed that she never felt that way again. This time, she froze again from shock, but it was a better feeling than last time.

Her mother looked as she has done the last time she had seen her, but this time her skin was a pale blue, and her face looked gaunt. Nonetheless, she could tell it was her, with her black victorian dress and her perfectly done makeup. The requests for her funeral preparations had been fun to ask for, if she thought of them lightly. 

Lydia saw her throttle to the door and she saw life go frame by frame as she tried to grasp the idea of what was happening. She saw it all play out: her mother, going full speed like a train with no breaks, right across the door frame and embracing her, and Lydia bursting into tears as she felt those arms around her once again. But it never came.

Instead, her mother stopped dead in her tracks just before the attic started, panting even though she didn’t need air, she had her hand raised, waiting for Lydia to come in contact with her. She saw the slight ripple between them, like a glass window that set them apart.

Hey Lyds. Stay on your side.

“So that’s what he meant, huh”.

“Can’t believe that, even dead, you have to wait an eternity for your turn in the queue.”

Lydia felt that knot in her throat tighten and she chuckled, raising her hand and putting it in front of her mother’s. She felt like saying a million things, she felt like saying nothing, just stay there, frozen forever, looking into those loving eyes.

“I miss you so much, my darling.” 

“We miss you too. How did...how did you even get the chance to be here? Mom, I looked for you, I tried to find you-”

“And that has been the most irresponsible thing I have ever heard you have done, Lydia Deetz.” 

This caught her off-guard, but she could see her mother’s hurt and tears in her eyes and she felt her heart sink. 

“I know you did, news spread so quickly around here, and that man in the striped suit...he told me all about it.” Emily braced herself and sighed. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

“I get that a lot from dad, no need to remind me.” Lydia grinned sheepishly. “But if I hadn’t...we wouldn’t be here.”

“You don’t get away that easily, young lady! I see you got yourself a darkroom, finally. What took your dad so long?”

“Well...I got a bit of help from some new friends. You would like them! They’re...normal people, in a way, but they would fight tooth and claw for me, just like you.” She smiled, thinking of how things could be if her mother befriended the Maitlands. 

Emily smiled widely, knowing her daughter was in good hands. 

“5 MINUTES OF VISITING TIME LEFT” a voice sounded from Emily’s side and both women felt panic build up in them.

“What? That’s not fair! You just got here!” Lydia argued.

“I’ll make the most of these time then. Lydia, look at me.”

She did as told and saw the fire in her mother’s eyes, the raw determination of a mother, of Emily Deetz.

“You go out there and show them that Lydia Deetz is all or nothing in this world. Be loud, be quiet, be brave, be afraid, be bold or not! But never stop being your true self, my little bird, understand? And never stop throwing your father’s phone into the trash, that man needs a reality check from time to time.”

Lydia nodded at everything her mother said, treasuring her voice and the words she said as if they were sacred. 

“And remind him that I will never stop thinking about him, we’ll meet again, someday, and I hope it is not soon.” Emily finished talking, giving time for her daughter to speak too.

“Mom, there’s so much to tell you and not enough time...but we are better, and I am going to be okay.” Lydia choked on the last word and saw her mother try to reach out to her.

The door from where Emily had come out opened again but this time a woman in a red dress came into the room. “Alright, Miss Deetz, time is up!”

Lydia knew actions had consequences, and she decided to throw out the window any rational thought and decided to act on impulse alone. 

Crossing the doorframe felt like diving into a frozen lake, complete with a shattering surface. Her arms wrapped around her mother’s cold figure, getting probably the last hug from her. Emily held her tight as the woman that had entered yelled out in warning and there was movement outside the room. 

“You shouldn’t have done that, Lydia” Emily whispered to her.

“You know what? I don’t care about being selfish this time” Lydia said as they parted.

There was more yelling, a loud CRASH, and some green smoke that took Lydia Deetz away.

In the blink of an eye, Lydia was back in the darkroom, seeing as the door disappeared and Beetlejuice used 3 hands to try and erase the chalk marks on the wall. She shivered as she felt the cold still ripple on her skin. “Beej?”  
“What did I tell you! You’re in so much shit now, kid! You’re not gonna see your mom in at least a whole ass decade! Fuck, kids these days don’t care about rules…” He rambled on as he finished the job, turning around to look at the tiny girl, scowling. “You really did it this time, why are you smiling?”

“Isn’t rule-breaking your favorite game?” she asked, amused. She felt exhilarated, as if she could take on the world.

Beetlejuice scoffed. “Yeah, but not when it gets me work to do AFTER I do the rule-breaking. My brand in: CHAOS, but calculated, you know?” He dusted himself off and scowled a bit more in her direction, a bit less serious. “So what’chu gonna do now that you saw your mom? Gonna thank me or not?”

“I guess I could thank you by not stabbing you again, seems fair?” she grinned.

“Not at all, but if you let me take a peak at Adam for juuuust a couple seconds…”

“Beetlejuice…”

“ What! No harm done with some chit-chat!”

“Beetlejuice…”

“Ok! Ok, I GET IT! But don’t call for me when you really need the help, I don’t work for free, didn’t get a degree to get treated this way--uck!” 

A pair of hands wrapped around his stomach, and he couldn’t have been more disgusted. “Hugs, way to wrap it up. Ya done? Ya got your feelings out, Deetz? Get outta here!” He poofed away from her, moving just where the door had been. “Don’t waste the name, kiddo. See you around...scarecrow.” 

Lydia chuckled as he finally vanished for good. She sighed, feeling as if she had never gotten a mouthful of air before. And she continued with her day, living and breathing. And she knew her mom liked it that way.


End file.
